This invention relates generally to interactive voice response systems for institutional facilities, and more specifically to interactive, voice response systems for accessing commissary services of a correctional facility.
A variety of incarceration or correctional facilities exist in which a population of persons, commonly referred to as prisoners or inmates, are confined. Such facilities may be operated by state, local and federal government entities, and may serve inmate populations of various sizes. The incarceration facility environment is subject to a number of unique administrative challenges.
For example, incarceration facilities demand a level of oversight that is not present in most other environments. Activities of inmates must be carefully monitored, and approved in advance, by facility administrators. Various types of restrictions to specified activities exist as security safeguards and as a means to promote desirable behavior among inmates, while privileges to other activities may be granted and revoked by the correctional facility. One popular privilege offered by many incarceration facilities is a commissary wherein inmates may purchase a variety of goods using spending accounts. The operating details associated with such commissaries, however, can present significant burdens on administrators of correctional facilities. Such burdens may include, as examples only, aspects of the financial accounting and management of the inmate accounts, and correct determination and application of potentially a large number of different restrictions on ordering of commissary goods that may vary considerably from inmate to inmate.
Improvements in monitoring and administering commissary services for correctional facilities are desired.